Archive for the ‘Mobile’ Category

I’ve always loved the idea of push email on BlackBerries. You know, where email actually arrives similar to SMS, it just pops up on the device as and when the server sees it come in. You don’t need to poll the server (and waste a ton of GPRS bandwidth) every x minutes.

Unfortunately, BlackBerries suck at pretty much everything else: no apps (including no skype), limited hardware (such as models with workable wifi and GPS), so I’ve been waiting patiently to get the same thing going on my K-JAM.

The update patches are now coming available for Windows Mobile 2005 devices in the form of a Microsoft Messaging and Security Feature Pack (MSFP). The i-mate release for the K-JAM can be found here if you need it. Watch out though, the update process wipes the device first (and some Windows users complain when an patch asks for a reboot — try having your machine wiped!)

After the update you now have an option to have your exchange server push you email as it arrives. It took me about 5 minutes to configure and from then on I started to get email popping up straight on the device just like SMS. Works like magic! Highly recommended update.

And whilst I hate to jump in on hype… here’s a video portraying Microsoft’s “origami” device. I’ve wondered for ages why there are so few devices that are practical to carry around (light), but with large enough screens to be useful (unlike PDA’s)… if this device works as it does in the video, I’m in. And maybe the iPod finally has a competitor.

Someone emailed me asking if I know of a mobile RSS reader and that prompted me to mention something I failed in my previous post. You can use Attensa to feed RSS articles into Outlook folders but you’ll find these will not be available for sync when using ActiveSync (in the email folder options).

To get around this, reconfigure Attensa and point the parent folder to be underneath your personal folder (such as your Inbox). Restart everything, including ActiveSync and you’ll see all your RSS feed folders popup. Next time you sync, bingo, all those RSS articles will appear as email on your mobile. The only real drawback is you have to manually select folders, ActiveSync doesn’t allow you to select a folder and have it sync all children. Oh well, I’ll wait for Attensa Mobile.